Microsoft Access 2010 Bible

Chapter 9: Presenting Data with Access Reports

359

Note
This may seem to be an enormous number of steps because the procedures were designed to show you how
laying out a report design can be a slow process. Remember, however, that when you click away with the
mouse, you don’t realize how many steps you’re doing as you visually design the report layout. With a
WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) layout tool like the Access Report Designer, you might need to
perform many tasks, but it’s still easier and faster than programming. Figure 9.32 shows the final version of the
design layout as seen in this chapter. In the next chapter, you continue to improve this report layout.

Changing label and text-box control properties

To change the properties of a text or label control, you need to display the control’s Property Sheet.

If it isn’t already displayed, perform one of these actions to display it:

l (^) Double-click the border of the control (anywhere except a sizing handle or move handle).
l Select a control and press F4.
l (^) Right-click the control with the mouse and select Properties.
l Press F4 to open the Properties window, and use the drop-down list at the top of the win-
dow to select the form or control on the form.
The Property Sheet enables you to look at and edit a control’s property settings. Using tools on the
Design ribbon, such as the formatting windows and text-formatting buttons, also changes the
property settings of a control. Clicking the Bold button in the Design tab, for example, sets the
control’s Font Weight property to Bold. It’s usually easier and more intuitive to use the controls
on the Design ribbon, but many properties are not accessible through the ribbon. Plus, objects
often have more options available through the Property Sheet.
The Size Mode property of an OLE object (bound object frame), with its options of Clip,
Stretch, and Zoom, is a good example of a property that is available only through the Property
Sheet.
The image control, which is a bound object frame, presently has its Size Mode property set to
Clip, which is the default. With Clip, the picture is displayed in its original size and may be too
large to fit in the frame. With Size Mode set to Clip, Access simply cuts off the picture at the
edge of its control. In this exercise, you change the setting to Stretch so that the picture is auto-
matically sized to fit the picture frame.
Follow these steps to change the property for the bound object frame control that contains the
picture:

1. Click the frame control of the picture bound object.


2. Click the Size Mode property and click the arrow to display the drop-down list box.


3. Select Stretch.